Once Upon a Shoe or The Rhymes and Mimes of Mother Goose and Her Traveling Troubadours
By Joseph Robinette.
Product Code: O29000
One-act Play
Comedy
Cast size: 7 to 30, flexible.
Livestream and Record & Stream Rights Available
Awards: The Charlotte B. Chorpenning Playwright Award
Rights and availability
This title can be licensed and sold throughout the World.
* Please note the royalty rate listed is the minimum royalty rate per performance. The actual royalty rate will be determined upon completion of a royalty application.
Synopsis
Mother Goose sadly announces to her children that they must leave their home—a large, comfortable shoe—and move to an old sneaker "across the tracks." The children decide to "put on a show" to save their shoe, and in the best Garlandooney tradition, they proceed to enact eight of Mother Goose's best poems. In the audience, a stranger turns out to be the famous movie producer Cecil B. DeMillstream and, of course, he loves the show! The shoe is saved and Mother Goose and her troupe are off to Hollywood. According to one director of children's theatre, "It was absolutely perfect for a real Mother Goose who had to put on a play with 20 eight-to fourteen-year-olds."
Notes
Livestream and Record & Stream Rights Available
Details
- Status In stock
- Type of Show One-act Play
- Product Code O29000
- Minimum Cast Size 7
- Pages of Dialogue 24
- Min. Royalty Rate $50.00/perf
- Approx. Run Time 40 min
- Staging One ext. set.
Categories
- Target Audience Young Audiences | Middle School
- Performing Group Middle School | High School | College Theatre | TYA | Touring Group
- Genre Comedy
- ISBN(13) 9780871294913
Customer Reviews
We toured this play to an elementary school and performed for K-2, and then to a preschool and performed for ages 3-5. The response was incredible! The kids clapped, cheered, ooh'ed and ah'ed throughout! Even the parents who watched were laughing!
Really fun to stage. The cast had fun rummaging through costume pieces and props to create each of the characters they played. Library audience saw the show and loved it! A great experience all around.
It's a great play with familiar characters, but a different twist! We performed it with a large cast of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders and added underlying musical themes for transitions.
Once Upon a Shoe is a delightful tale that my actors loved. The audience loved it as well. Being able to change characters during the play added a challenge that my students needed!
Wonderful show for pre-K students.
Once Upon a Shoe was produced at a Christmas Concert along with the school's three bands performing. The show was a tremendous hit, especially the portion about "The House that Jack Built." Blocking was a hilarious time and watching cast members trying not to lose their concentration, added to our mirth. The line by the cat, "That worries me!" was made into a catch phrase by the entire school.
We really like this. It gives a lot of kids the chance to try acting in a very easy-going setting. Plus it was a real crowd pleaser! Even kids who weren't talkers had a great experience of the theater.
Wonderful ensemble work. Professional production consultant added that extra shine. The magic was realized. Fourteen inexperienced kids put on as professional a show as you could hope to see. All ages loved it!
This play is a great choice for young actors. Not only is the production entertaining, but it also kept our young actors entertained throughout rehearsals. Because the children were familiar with the nursery rhymes, it was easy for them to learn their lines and act out their parts. This production was a hit with our audience.
Hints, Tips, and Tricks
We loved building the big shoe. It was practical built of frame, foam, covered with fabric and paint. the shoe laces were thin pipe insulation (like pool noodles), grommets made of paper plates. We didn't do the playground equipment, but had a variety of chairs and stools made of wire spools with giant flowers for the cushions. Bright colors, quick changes with props.
Let the cast work each section playfully and then weave all the parts together. Improvisation allowed thoughts to flow at will. I had a large cast and be careful when double casting that there is time to "change." Simple noses and ear pieces created all the animals easily.
Production Map
| Location | City | State | Opens | Closes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market House Theatre | Paducah | KY | 03/29/2025 | 03/30/2025 |
Gallery
Once Upon a Shoe-Pensacola Little Theatre, Pensacola, FL
Also By These Authors
Kathy Holsworth, Pensacola Little Theatre, Pensacola, Fla.